Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Penalties were the undoing of the NDSS Golden Hawks senior boys rugby team in Tuesday’s KASSAA season opener as they dropped a 33-8 decision to the visiting Regi Panthers.
Both teams struggled to gain any real territory through the first quarter of the game until the penalties began to mount for NDSS in the late stages of the first half. Those penalties mixed with a pair of blocked clearing attempts allowed their opponents to build a 12-0 advantage.
Napanee was unable to put together any long runs in the fist but did break onto the scoreboard when Dave Gustavel kicked a 20 yard penalty kick to cut the deficit to 12-3.
NDSS was held out of the try zone until the final minutes of the game when Devon Tompkins dragged a pair of Regi defenders over the line for the Hawks’ first try of the 2018 KASSAA season.
It wasn’t nearly enough however as the offense never really put together a sustained attack.
“We clearly were outclassed today in skill but also physically,” said Hawks head coach Jim McKinney. “We have big bodies but (Regi) played really hard.”
This year’s senior team is a bit of an anomaly by NDSS standards, as the Hawks rugby teams have traditionally been built around speed. This year’s roster however boasts plenty of size and players capable of putting up roadblocks.
“We’re not disappointed because it’s so early,” McKinney said of losing the first season game. “We took too many penalties. If we’re going to be competitive, we can’t have penalties like that. That’s too many.”
Indeed it wasn’t until the Hawks were forced to play down a man for five minutes that the Panthers really began to run up the score.
“They scored twice when we were binned,” said McKinney. “Couple penalties different and it’s more competitive, that’s for sure.”
McKinney says he has reason to believe the team will play rebound from the opening loss as he saw a lot of positives in a pre-season tournament played last week in Smiths Falls. They’ll have a quick turn around as they will travel to the turf field at Queen’s Nixon Field to take on the KCVI Blues tomorrow afternoon.
NDSS girls rugby team had no issues in their season opener, as they rolled to a 50-0 victory over the visiting Panthers.
It was a strong start for the Hawks who are looking to repeat at KASSAA champions in 2018.
They bested the La Salle Black Knights 16-15 in overtime last May to win the league title.
They’ll look to continue their hot start tomorrow afternoon when they too travel to Nixon to face the Blues.
The NDSS junior boys will kickoff their season tomorrow when they take on KCVI at Nixon Field as part of the triple header.
On the soccer pitch the Hawks had to wait a week to get their season underway as last week’s rain storm postponed the first scheduled game.
When the sun came out, the Hawks junior boys were bested 5-0 by the Bayridge Blazers.
The girls team battled to a 1-1 draw in their opener, also against the Blazers.
Both teams are scheduled to host the La Salle Black Knights this afternoon in their home opener. The boys play at 3 p.m. followed by the girls at 4:30 p.m.
Also ahead of the spring schedule is the baseball season. The teams are expected to begin game action early next month.
NDSS’ track and field team is preparing for the KASSAA meet, which will take place May 16 and 17 at the Invista Centre and Queen’s University’s Richardson Stadium.